A Message from the Director, Harris Lewin
Establishing the Environment, Creating the Culture, Getting Down to Business
After six years of planning and construction, the institute formally opened its doors on March 29, 2007. This date marks the beginning of a transformative period in the history of the University, one in which a new vision for future of biology and life sciences will emerge.
We’ve had some tremendous accomplishments in a short period of time.
The energy company BP decided to locate a major component of the $500 million Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) at the University of Illinois. Under Steve Long’s leadership, the University of Illinois is poised to be a major player in solving one of the nation’s most pressing problems – to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
The Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering Theme, led by Larry Schook, has captured more than $1.5 million from the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute for work on stem cell biology. REBTE theme members have also spearheaded an important partnership with Carle Foundation Hospital, Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and iCyte (a Champaign biotechnology company) to create a state-of-the-art facility at the Illinois Research Park for ultra-throughput sorting of stem cells. The work will enable a variety of new biotherapies to succeed at unprecedented rates.
Bill Metcalf’s Mining Microbial Genomes for Novel Antibiotics theme was awarded $7 million to discover, engineer, and produce a promising – yet little explored – class of antibiotic agents. The research will look for alternatives to standard antibiotics, which are losing their effectiveness against common infectious agents.
These are just a few of our early successes. I invite you to explore our Web site, learn about our research, attend our events, and tour our beautiful new building. We’re searching for answers to some of society’s most pressing problems in healthcare, the environment, agriculture, and energy. We invite you to walk with us on this incredible journey of discovery.
Harris
